Camilla Ransom
We got up early to get the boat ready to head over to Sardinia. On deck this involves stowing the dinghy, taking off the sail cover, connecting the halyard and taking the covers off the instruments. In the cabin it’s the transition from home to boat, which means stowing everything which moves away in lockers, drawers or tying it down with bungee. We dropped the mooring ball at 10am and went to the fuel pontoon to pick up some diesel. The “marina” (if you can call it that) was absolutely tiny with room only for one boat to manoeuvre and it was occupied already so we had to wait…and wait…and wait. Finally, 30 minutes later they vacated and we went in. The pontoon itself was only 5m long (we’re 10m) and at one end there was a large yacht sitting at right angles to it, and at the other a small overhanging fishing boat. Tom jumped ashore with the bow line and secured it, whilst I threw the stern line onto the pontoon ready for him to collect. At the same time as I chucked it a random passer by appeared and rushed forward to help. He did a perfect job of wrapping the line around the nearest bollard, and I reached out to him to indicate that I’d take the lose end back on board. He gave me a rather confused look and instead of offering the line to my outstretched hand, he promptly gave me a handshake. OK, well, I went with it, said thank-you then pointed at the line which he passed me. 60 EUR later we were on our way.
As we motored out of the bay I gave my Dad a video call (it was his birthday) and as we turned the corner and were met by a huge oncoming swell. Not again we thought! This for the next 195 miles would be truly horrible. Thankfully though as we continued the sea flattened out. We motored for the next few hours when, as predicted the wind picked up and we got a fantastic 7 or so hours of great sailing in. At 19:30 the wind dropped so on with the motor it was, and the journey continued like that until we reached Sardinia. About mid way across the sea turned to come from behind us which helped us make great progress, although it did make the boat very rolly as we surfed down the waves. Moving around and sleeping was a bit tricky but we managed. The night sail was the darkest and the most lonely we’ve ever experienced. With no moon, and not a single other boat in sight the isolation felt pretty real. The next day was uneventful apart from some gremlins in the electrics. The autopilot kept re-booting and the fridge decided to stop working. Another sign our batteries have seen better days.
We reached the Sardinian coast at 21:30 on Sunday (7 hours earlier than we’d thought) which was great, but it did mean we had to find out way in the dark. It was still another 2 hours to Alghero so we motored on trying to identify the lights which were shown on the chart, which isn’t all that simple when they’re against the backdrop of the city. Also, rather unnervingly the chart said “obstruction” in several places so we posted Tom on the bow with a very powerful searchlight, but luckily he found nothing.
We had planned to anchor just outside the marina, but weren’t sure what to expect so our Plan B was to get a berth for the night. To our delight the anchorage was vast and completely deserted so we dropped the hook (first time without the windlass) and switched off the engine. To my horror though turning off the engine took everything else with it and all our electronics switched off. A few seconds later though they sprang back into life – as did the fridge – joy!! We opened a bottle of wine and had a shower off the back. We’d made it! Before hitting the hay we checked the forecast and saw the wind was due to pick up at 08:00 and build during the day. We’d be fine for the night, and tomorrow we could head into the marina if things got too lively.
